1. Comets, Meteors and Asteroids

2. Comet A comet is a chunk of frozen ice and rock orbitting the sun in very thin elliptical orbits. Comets have 3 parts 1.Nucleus 2.Coma 3.Tail

3. Nucleus The nucleus is the ice and rock part of a comet that is moving.

4. Coma The coma is the cloud of gas surrounding the nucleus.

5. Tail The tail is the stream of particles leaving the nucleus of a comet. The tail is created by solar wind, therefore, the tail of a comet always points away from the sun.

6. Famous Comets Haley’s comet – visible every 76 years. Last seen in 1986 Hale Bopp comet – Last seen in 1997, visible approximately every 4,200 years

7. Asteroids Asteroids are solid rocklike masses orbitting the sun between mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are found in what is known as the asteroid belt. Some asteroids are very small, some larger than mountains

8. Meteors, Meteorites, Meteoroids Meteoroid – a rock or icy fragment travelling in no specific direction in space. Vary greatly in size. Meteor – when a meteoroid enters earth’s atmosphere, it burns up, creating light. The light is a meteor (also called a shooting star)

9. Meteors

10. Meteor showers There are large collections of meteoroids that the earth goes through every year, causing meteor showers. These are usually leftovers from comets. A meteor shower is when lots of meteors are visible in the night time sky.

11. Meteor showers NameDate of PeakMoon Phase Quadrantids January 4Full Moon Lyrids April 22Evening crescent Eta Aquarids May 6Morning gibbous Delta Aquarids July 28Full Moon Perseids August 12New Moon Orionids October 21Evening gibbous Leonids November 18Evening gibbous Geminids December 14Evening crescent

12. Meteorite Meteorite is a meteoroid that actually hits earth. Location where meteorite hits earth is called a crater Most famous impact crater possibly lead to death of dinosaurs.

13. Meteorite Impact Craters – Manicougan crater, Northern Canada, 200 million years old

14. Meteor crater - Arizona